This has certainly been successful for many women in helping them to lose weight but it now appears that particularly for menopausal and postmenopausal women it could cause problems in terms of bone loss.

New research from Purdue University published online in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences has established a link between such diets and an increased likelihood of bone loss leading to osteoporosis. Currently, 1 in 3 women and one in 12 over the age of 50 suffer from osteoporosis. And osteoarthritis affects around 8 million people in the UK over the age of 40.

It is known that when overweight, postmenopausal women reduce their energy intake to successfully lose weight, they can lose less lean body mass if they consume higher amounts of protein particularly of lean meats, such as pork, beef and chicken, in their diet. Wayne W. Campbell, professor of foods and nutrition at Purdue, stated that they also found that “these older women lost bone mineral density faster than women who consumed normal protein diets that did not contain any meats. This finding is of concern for this age group as they are more susceptible to osteoporosis.”

These studies are only small in scale. The first one studied 28 women’s individual daily diets which they then reduced by 750 calories to achieve a one-and-one-half-pound weight loss each week for 12 weeks. The  women ranged in age from 43-80 with 15 on meat-free diets with protein from vegetarian, dairy and egg sources, and this made up 18 percent of each woman’s energy intake. This amount of protein was comparable to the recommended dietary allowance of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day.

The diets for the other 13 women included 30 percent of energy from protein with 40 percent of the protein from lean meats and 60 percent of the protein from vegetarian, dairy and eggs. The good news is that the women, on average, lost about 19 pounds each, but unfortunately those who ate the higher-protein, meat-containing, diet lost bone mineral density as well.

The second study was larger and consisted of 43 postmenopausal women who each ate a 1,250-calorie diet for nine weeks. All participants consumed the same 1,000-calorie vegetarian diet, but 15 women also received 250 calories from chicken breast meat, 14 women received 250 calories from beef and 14 women received 250 calories from shortbread cookies and sugar-coated chocolates.

Although the cookie and chocolate part of the diet certainly sounds more like my kind of calories, what this study produced was that again all of the women who ate the energy-reduced diets successfully lost weight, but the groups that consumed the higher-protein meat-containing diets also lost bone mineral density compared to the control group.

Certainly losing weight is a good goal if you are overweight, but it does seem that specifically for older women who may be overweight and menopausal that the protein diet is not perhaps the healthiest way to go. Research shows that older women are at risk of losing bone when they lose weight, and if you have any concerns about osteoporosis – or family history of it – then you might want to consider a vegetarian high protein diet or another regime that will lose the weight without losing the bone mass.

A very simple self-help tip is to get on those boots and walk every day as it is one of the best methods of helping build up bone mass and avoiding painful conditions like arthritis.

Another factor to bear in mind is that both of these studies were relatively short at just nine and 12 weeks respectively so it is not possible to say definitively what the long-term effect of high protein diets might be if they had studied this over a longer period.

With osteoporosis your bones become fragile and brittle and so are easily broken. As more severe bone loss occurs, then even minor accidents can result in fractures, most frequently in the spine, wrist, hip and pelvis. If the condition becomes advanced, and is untreated, then the vertebrae of the spine are prone to compression fractures, which affect surrounding nerves and organs. This also results in a loss of height for which the old nickname was ‘the dowager’s hump’ as it was frequently seen in the bent over posture of old ladies. It is also accompanied by chronic pain.

Risk Factors
Women are four times more likely than men to develop osteoporosis, and women over 55 are the most susceptible, although younger women can also be at risk depending on certain factors. It has also more recently been seen that more men are being diagnosed with osteoporosis. It is hard to know whether this is because they are now more susceptible because of the increased hormone levels in the water and food chain, or because they have not been diagnosed. As the greatest number of cases are seen in women, many doctors have not thought to link broken bones in men to osteoporosis. A simple scan by ultrasound can diagnose this and if a man is subject to bones breaking more easily then this would be a good check to make.

Knowing your medical history is important as osteoporosis often runs in families, but if this is not the case for you then it is the declining hormone levels as we age that are an important factor in whether or not you develop osteoporosis,. Both oestrogen and progesterone are essential for bone building and production of both these slow down as we get older. Normal bone tissue is broken down by cells called osteoclasts (a process which needs oestrogen) and rebuilt by osteoblasts. (which needs progesterone). As we age, the rate at which the bone is broken down exceeds that at which it is built up and this leads to bone loss.

It can also affect younger women who have had a surgical menopause through having a hysterectomy and also anyone who has undertaken severe dieting or has a history of anorexia or bulimia. There is a severe mineral loss involved in these conditions and during the teens and twenties and this can do permanent damage to the bones.

There are a number of ways to deal with osteoporosis and three of the important ones in the prevention and management of this condition are stress management, diet and exercise. Low levels of exercise can make the condition worse, and there are many good books on nutrition on this subject, but it will certainly be worsened by a diet high in animal protein, too much salt, heavy metal toxicity, cigarettes, numerous pregnancies and prolonged breast feeding.

Being aware of your own risk factors will enable you to take charge of your health and minimise the effect osteoporosis may have on you.

There are any number of reasons why you may be vulnerable for either condition and some may well relate to health problems you might have had in the past like anorexia, but there could also be other factors affecting your bones right now.

The good news is that both osteoporosis and osteopenia can be treated and your bone strength can be improved by both slowing the breakdown of old bone and, at the same time, building up new strong bone.

There are three important things that you have to consider if you want to improve your bones. These are:-

1 – Taking supplements to make sure that your bones have the correct nutrients in the right balance to build strong new bone.
2 – Regularly taking weight bearing exercise
3 – Checking that your oestrogen/progesterone hormone balance is favourable for the building up of new bone

Supplements:

It used to be thought that we only needed calcium and vitamins D, C and K to build our bones, but this is not true as many nutrients are needed. Yes, we do need calcium but it must be combined with an equal amount of magnesium so that the calcium can be properly used by the bones. If there is too much calcium to magnesium in your diet then it can be deposited in your joints and arteries which you certainly want to avoid . Boron, zinc and silica in small amounts will help to build strong bone as well as the benefits from the Omega 3 Fatty acids.

Rather than taking all these separately there are a number of supplements that have these already combined for you on the market that will contain most of the items here but you will need to take the vitamin C and the Omega 3 separately. It is a good idea to consult a nutritionist so you can have an individual programme designed for you.

Weight-bearing exercise:
There are many options for this, but any exercise that puts impact through your bones is effective. Whatever you choose to do, make sure it is something you enjoy so that you will regularly keep it up. You can go to the gym, play tennis, dance, skip, walk briskly gym or try something different like tai chi or yoga. Another benefit of exercise if you are vulnerable to osteoporosis is that it keeps you supple and so you are less likely to fall and risk breaking a bone.

Hormone balance:
It is a fallacy to believe that it is only oestrogen that is needed for healthy bones. In reality all oestrogen can do is slow bone breakdown, and it certainly cannot help build up new strong bone. HRT is often suggested to help with osteoporosis, but the problem here is that the oestrogen will slow down bone breakdown, but he bone only stays there while you take the oestrogen in the HRT. When you stop, then you lose all the retained bone and a further problem is that even if you keep taking oestrogen over time, this retained bone becomes old and brittle.

The only hormone that helps to build up new strong bone is progesterone, and that is not to be confused with the chemical progestogen found in the contraceptive pill and HRT.

Drugs for osteoporosis:
There are certain drugs such as Fosamex that slow bone breakdown, and these can be useful if you have severe osteoporosis, but the problem is the same as with oestrogen. They only have an effect while you take them and this is reversed when you stop. Also the retained bone becomes old and brittle.

There are other osteoporosis drugs that contain strontium, but there is considerable debate about its benefits, either as a medication or a supplement. It makes the bones appear denser on x-rays but this does not necessarily mean they are stronger. It does this because it is a chemical that has a higher atomic weight than calcium and shows up more densely on x-rays.

Last word:
The most important thing to remember if you are diagnosed with either osteopenia or osteoporosis is that there is no need to panic. New strong bone can be built up and your bones can be improved. It is not just a case of preventing the condition from worsening, but taking positive action to ensure the best possible conditions for building new, strong and healthy bone.